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cover of episode How Baby Bats Learn To Eavesdrop On Dinner

How Baby Bats Learn To Eavesdrop On Dinner

2025/5/14
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Short Wave
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Rachel Page: 我最初因为在德克萨斯州奥斯汀看到了巨大的城市蝙蝠群而对蝙蝠着迷。我对蝙蝠如何避免互相碰撞、如何识别自己的回声定位呼叫以及如何进行社交交流感到好奇。这些问题促使我开始研究蝙蝠的行为和生态，并逐渐深入了解它们的生活方式和生存策略。我发现蝙蝠不仅仅是依靠回声定位来导航和捕食，它们还通过各种感官方式与环境互动，进行复杂的社交行为。我对蝙蝠的认知和理解也因此发生了根本性的改变。

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The episode starts by describing the mesmerizing exodus of bats from the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas. It then introduces Rachel Page, a behavioral ecologist studying fringe-lipped bats and their unique hunting strategies, which involve eavesdropping on frog mating calls. The episode also briefly touches upon the variety of methods bats use for navigation and hunting.
  • Millions of bats emerge from the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas.
  • Fringe-lipped bats use echolocation and eavesdropping to hunt.
  • Bats use multiple senses (eyes, smell, hearing) to find and hunt prey.

Shownotes Transcript

Most bats use echolocation to navigate and hunt, but some use their ears for another trick: eavesdropping. "And then these frog-eating bats, for example, they are actually listening in on the mating calls of frogs that are much, much lower in frequency," says behavioral ecologist Rachel Page.) But how the bats knew this eavesdropping trick was a mystery. So she set up and experiment with baby bats and a speaker. *Have a question about the animals all around us? Email us at [email protected]) — we'd love to hear from you!Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave).*Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)